Server-based conversion of autoplay content to click-to-play content

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating and providing converted content. In one aspect, a system includes a content database that receives content from content providers and stores original content comprising animating content and converted content associated with the original content; a converter system that: receives the original content from the content database; generates the converted content, comprising: for a particular original content, identifying and extracting, from the particular original content, a static representation; overlaying the static representation with UI elements; and storing a particular converted content that comprises the static representation overlaid with the UI elements; and transmits the converted content to the content database; a content distribution system that: receives a request for content; identifies a first original content from the content database; receives a first converted content associated with the first original content; and provides the first converted content.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 15/180,749, filed Jun. 13, 2016, which is incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

This specification relates to data processing and content conversion.

The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources. Forexample, video and/or audio files, as well as web pages for particularsubjects or particular news articles are accessible over the Internet

Content can be presented in various forms: image content, Flash®content, video content, and HTML content. Flash® content, video content,and HTML content are often presented as autoplay content that beginanimating without user interaction.

SUMMARY

In general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter described inthis specification can be embodied in a system comprising: a contentdatabase, in communication with one or more content providers, thatreceives content from the one or more content providers and stores aplurality of original content items comprising animating content and aplurality of converted content items associated with the plurality oforiginal content items; a converter system, including one or moreprocessors, in communication with the content database that: receivesthe plurality of original content items from the content database;generates the plurality of converted content items from the plurality oforiginal content items, comprising: for a particular original contentitem, identifying, from the particular original content item, a relevantstatic representation; extracting, from the particular original contentitem, the relevant static representation; overlaying the relevant staticrepresentation with one or more user interface elements associated withplayback of the particular original content item; and storing aparticular converted content item that comprises the relevant staticrepresentation overlaid with the one or more user interface elements;and transmits the plurality of converted content items to the contentdatabase; a content distribution system, including one or moreprocessors, in communication with the content database, that: receives,from a remote client device, a request for content; in response to therequest for content, identifies a first original content item from theplurality of original content items stored on the content database;receives, from the content database, a first converted content itemassociated with the first original content item; and provides, to theremote client device, the first converted content item associated withthe first original content item. Other embodiments of this aspectinclude corresponding methods, apparatus, and computer programs,configured to perform the actions of the methods, encoded on computerstorage devices.

These and other embodiments can each optionally include one or more ofthe following features. The content distribution system may furtherreceive, from the remote client device, a user request to view animatedcontent related to the first converted content item; and in response toreceiving the user request to view animated content, provide, to theremote client device, the first original content item. The plurality oforiginal content items may further comprise autoplay HTML content andthe plurality of converted content items comprise click-to-play content.The converter system may further analyzes original content items in thecontent database and identifies original content items that are eligiblefor conversion. Identifying original content items that are eligible forconversion may comprise identifying original content items that arelarger than a threshold file size. Overlaying the relevant staticrepresentation with one or more user interface elements may compriseidentifying a template that defines the one or more user interfaceelements and relative positions of the one or more interface elements.The template may further define at least one of a level of grayscale orlevel of opacity. The one or more user interface elements may include atleast one of a play button and a button associated with accessing a webpage of a content provider that provided the original content. Theconverted content may have a smaller file size than the originalcontent.

In some implementations, the content distribution system receives therequest for content and provides the converted content to one of a webbrowser or native application on the client device. In someimplementations, the content database stores each of the plurality ofconverted content items in association with a corresponding originalcontent item. The plurality of converted content items may comprisesubstantially static content. The request for content from the remoteclient device may include a request for animating content.

In some implementations, the content distribution system furtherdetermines, after identifying the first original content item, whetherto provide to the remote client device the first original content itemor the first converted content item. In some implementations,determining whether to provide to the remote client device the firstoriginal content item or the first converted content item comprises:determining a file size of the first original content item and a filesize of the first converted content item; and based on a comparison ofthe file size of the first original content item and the file size ofthe first converted content item with a threshold file size, selectingthe first converted content item.

Methods can further include the actions of receiving, by contentdatabase and from one or more content providers, a plurality of originalcontent items comprising animating content; generating, by one or moreprocessors, a plurality of converted content items from the plurality oforiginal content items, the generating comprising: for a particularoriginal content item, identifying, from the particular original contentitem, a relevant static representation; extracting, from the particularoriginal content item, the relevant static representation; overlayingthe relevant static representation with one or more user interfaceelements associated with playback of the particular original contentitem; and storing a particular converted content item that comprises therelevant static representation overlaid with the one or more userinterface elements; and storing, by the content database, each of theplurality of converted content items in association with a correspondingoriginal content item; receiving, from a remote client, a request forcontent; in response to the request for content, identifying a firstoriginal content item from the plurality of original content itemsstored on the content database; receiving, from the content database, afirst converted content item associated with the first original contentitem; and providing, to the remote client device, the first convertedcontent item associated with the first original content item.

In some implementations further include the actions of receiving, fromthe remote client device, a user request to view animated contentrelated to the first converted content item; and in response toreceiving the user request to view animated content, providing, to theremote client device, the first original content item. In someimplementations, the plurality of original content items compriseautoplay HTML content and the plurality of converted content itemscomprise click-to-play content. In some implementations, the methods canfurther include the actions of determining, after identifying the firstoriginal content item, whether to provide to the remote client devicethe first original content item or the first converted content item,comprising: determining a file size of the first original content itemand a file size of the first converted content item; and based on acomparison of the file size of the first original content item and thefile size of the first converted content item with a threshold filesize, selecting the first converted content item.

As used herein, autoplay content refers to animated content that beginsanimating automatically and without user interaction after loading.Examples of autoplay content include Flash® content, video content, HTMLcontent, and other animating content. Autoplay content can be convertedinto click-to-play content. Click-to-play content refers to content thathas been turned static or paused automatically and requires a click orother input to be played or animated.

Particular implementations of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be implemented so as to realize one or more of thefollowing advantages. By converting dynamic content to initially staticcontent, or mostly static content (e.g., converting an autoplay contentitem to a click-to-play content item), the technology provides reducedcontent delivery latency because content is presented to a client devicein a lightweight form (i.e., a reduced amount of data relative to anoriginal amount of data, such as images rather than video) until a userclicks to cause the content to become animated. Because the content ispresented in a lightweight form, the device is required to load fewerbytes, images load faster, and browsers require less time to render thecontent. The lightweight form of the content further results in a lessbattery usage by a device because the lightweight content is not playedback, thereby reducing the processing resources used by the device, andthe device is only required to initially render images and static HTMLrather than full motion video. Static content does not introduce work inevery animation frame, reducing the overall load on a user's device andimproving web experience (e.g., scrolling). The converted content stillresembles original autoplay content and can be caused to animate if theuser wishes to view the animation, so the content presentation maintainsthe full user experience that the content provider intended for viewersjust behind “one click” (e.g., the user clicking on a play button tocause the content to animate). The approach further allows contentdistribution systems to maintain control of the user experience byselecting which content to present, how it is presented and when itshould be presented to client devices.

Additionally, the technology provides an improved user experience byperforming content conversion on the server rather than on the browser,avoiding placing an unnecessary load on and using resources of theclient device. The technology further provides an improved userexperience in that the user can control how much of the content that heor she wishes to view and therefore how much content is downloaded tothe client device from the server. The user is also presented withsufficient content so that he or she can make a decision regardingwhether he or she wishes to view more of the content and can interactwith the content in a user-friendly manner. For example, the user maysee a still image, and based on viewing that still image he or she mayindicate that he or she wishes to view the entire animating content.Alternately, the user may see the still image and decide that he or shewishes to view a website associated with the content without viewing theanimation and click directly on a button to navigate to the website.This provides an improved user-friendly interface for the user tointeract with the content. In particular, this is an improvement overbrowser-side implementations that require a user to click on content atleast twice on content—first to start playback and then to navigate toanother page—in order to arrive at a landing page associated with thecontent.

The technology provides another improved user experience over scenarioswhere animation is downloaded and stopped immediately or early on duringplayback. In those instances, the resulting static content after theanimation is stopped may not be representative of the entire content.The technology described herein presents a method of providing a morerepresentative display of the full content.

In some implementations, part of an autoplay content item may beprovided to the client device at the same time that the click-to-playcontent is provided. Then if a user indicates a desire to view animationassociated with the click-to-play content, some data from the autoplaycontent has already been downloaded to the client device so the timerequired to download the remaining autoplay content is decreased and thecorresponding lag in presenting the video content experienced by theclient device is similarly decreased.

Moreover, the bandwidth of a communications network (e.g., a local areanetwork, wide area network, wireless network, and/or the Internet) thatconnects the remote client device to a content distribution system maybe conserved by reducing the amount of data that the network carries touser devices. For instance, if a user is presented with click-to-playcontent but never indicates a desire to view the animation, the networkis not burdened by having to carry the additional data associated withthe autoplay content. In some cases, this can be especially significantfor wireless and cellular data networks in which the amount of bandwidthconsumed by individual users is closely regulated so as to ensure that,on average, the capacity of the network is not overwhelmed by theactivities of a population of users. Streaming video and other animatedcontent requires a relatively large amount of bandwidth (e.g., ascompared to text, still images, or some other content types), and soreducing the amount of content transmitted on the network can have asignificant impact on network performance.

In some implementations, the techniques described herein generatingclick-to-play content from autoplay content can also improve aspects ofusers' computing devices. Downloading, streaming, and playing video orother animating content on client devices are generally computationallyexpensive activities. Some of this expense may be reduced by avoidingdownloading, streaming, and/or playing video or animating content thatusers are not interested in viewing. Moreover, in the context of mobiledevices and other battery-powered computing devices, savingcomputational expense may not wish to view can conserve power and reducebattery drain on the device, thereby extending the device's batterylife.

The details of one or more implementations of the subject matterdescribed in this specification are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter will become apparent from thedescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example environment in which a contentdistribution system manages conversion and distribution of contentitems.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an example process for processing autoplaycontent.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example process for converting HTML contentto click-to-play content.

FIG. 4 illustrates latencies for serving autoplay and click-to-playcontent.

FIGS. 5A-C are example click-to-play content representations.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an example process for serving click-to-playcontent and autoplay content.

FIG. 7 is an example of a computing device and a mobile computing devicethat may be used to implement the computer-implemented methods and othertechniques described herein.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

HTML autoplay content automatically loads on publisher websites, causingresources to be downloaded, code to be executed, and other user-visibleeffects (e.g., CSS animation). While this HTML autoplay contentproviders a richer user experience (e.g., relative to that provided bystatic content), it can also cause negative effects. First, the contentmay be overly distracting and can leave a user with a bad impression ofa content provider associated with the content or a content publisherpresenting the content. Next, the content can slow down the browsingexperience and affect the battery life of the user's device (e.g., byutilizing more of the user device processing power). The autoplaycontent may also affect other content that is displayed on the samewebsite or application. Finally, the content can also take a long timeto load, showing a blank filler to the user while the content isloading.

With the rise of browser-based content blockers (e.g., ad blockers),there is a tendency by browsers to try to stop various forms of contenton the Internet from loading automatically or from being requested atall. While some browser-based content blockers may prevent autoplaycontent from playing automatically, these browser-based content blockersstill require that the computing device first download all of thecontent (e.g., animating content, Flash® content)—typically includinglarge amounts of data—before preventing the content from autoplaying.That is, these browser-based content blockers generally require that theclient device first download the entire animated content before blockingthe automatic playback of the animated content. In some instances, thebrowser displays some of the animated content before stopping playback.Either way, the client device downloads the entire content even if theuser only views a single image from the content. This browser-basedapproach therefore uses client resources in order to stop autoplaycontent.

Other content blockers block content before the content request is evenmade. These content blockers, however, may block content that the usermay wish to see without giving the user an option of viewing any part ofthe content.

This application discusses server-based content converters. Theseserver-based content converters identify autoplay content, or othercontent having animation, at the server and convert the autoplay contentinto click-to-play content at the server before the content is everreceived at a browser on a client device. For this approach,essentially, a content server may only serve as much content as theviewer requests to see. For example, rather than serving HTML autoplaycontent, the content server provides only static content with userinterface elements that allow the user to indicate that he or she wishesto view animation of HTML autoplay content (e.g., by interacting with aplay button displayed with the static content). If the user clicks on aplay button, then this is an indication that the user wishes to view theanimation, and the content server provides the HTML autoplay content.This solution is achieved by converting the original content (e.g., HTMLautoplay content) on the server side rather than the browser side.

Converting content at the server, prior to the browser receiving thecontent, provides various advantages. First, it is easier for a serverto determine a type of content (e.g., animating or non-animatingcontent) than it is for a browser. This is true primarily because aclient device can generally only determine a type of content after allof the content is loaded into the document object model, therebyintroducing latency and other problems associated with lag.Consequently, browsers implementing ad blockers, for example, oftenblock both types of content. Next, a server can distinguish betweencontent that can be loaded quickly versus content that will take up alot of resources to load. The server can distinguish between types ofcontent, for example, by offline ejection in an experimental setting orheuristic analysis of the content (e.g., an amount of Javascript® in thecontent) or of data collected from previous runs. Additionally, a serverperforming the content conversion can provide various click-throughoptions. For example, if a user indicated that he wished to visit acontent provider's website without viewing the animation associated withthe content, he or she could do so by clicking directing on a userinterface element that would direct the user to the content provider'swebsite rather than first having to click on a play button and view theanimation.

The autoplay content may be presented in the form of HTML content. Theserver may convert this content into pure static content (e.g., a stillimage) or very simple HTML content that only represents static portionsof the autoplay content (e.g., a still image with user interfaceelements). The converted content may, in some implementations, comprisea snipped of animated content. With purely static—or mostly purelystatic—content, the user's device will load the content more quicklythan the amount of time it will take to load the animated contentbecause the file size of the static content will generally be smallerthan that of the animated content (e.g., with only limited JS scriptsbeing loaded). With the simple HTML content, the user can view a stillimage extracted from the autoplay content, but the user can alsointeract with the content via the user interface elements in order toview the animation. Presentation of only simple HTML content wouldresult in the content loading quickly on a user's computing device whilepresenting high quality content for a positive user experience.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example environment 100 forconverting HTML autoplay content to click-to-play content and servingeach of these contents. In some implementations, the example environmentgenerates the click-to-play content by extracting a relevant still imagefrom the autoplay content and overlays the extracted still image withone or more user interface (UI) elements that can be used to startplayback of the autoplay content.

The example environment 100 includes a data communication network 102,such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), theInternet, or a combination thereof. The network 102 enables datacommunication between multiple electronic devices and systems. Inparticular, the network 102 connects a user 104 and a client device 106,content distribution system 108, content database 110, converter system112, and a plurality of content providers 114. Communications links ofthe network can be wireline or wireless links or both. Client device 106is an electronic device that is under control of a user and is capableof requesting and receiving resources over the network 102. Exampleclient devices 106 include laptop computers, desktop computers,television devices that are enabled to stream online video content,mobile communication devices (e.g., smart phones, tablet computingdevices, netbooks, notebook computers, or wearable devices), and otherdevices that can send and receive data over the network 102.

A client device 106 typically includes a user application, such as a webbrowser that can display a publisher website 116, or native application(e.g., a video game, news application, messaging application) (notshown) to facilitate the sending and receiving of data over the network102. The content distribution system 108, content database 110, andconverter system 112 may include laptops, desktops, workstations,personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, andother appropriate computers. Servers may generally comprise a collectionof one or more computers and may perform processing across the one ormore computers in one or more geographically separated locations.

In many cases, content providers 114 may include parties thatorganically created their own animating content to share with others,but content providers 114 may also refer to parties who upload contentthat was actually created by one or more other parties but which thefirst party wishes to share. The content providers 114 may uploadoriginal animating content to the content database 110. The contentdatabase 110 is generally responsible for storing, maintaining, andindexing content that has been made available for distribution.

Each of the content distribution system 108, content database 110, andconverter system 112 may generally be implemented as a combination ofhardware and software of one or more computers in one or more locations,such as computers described with respect to FIG. 7. Each of the contentdistribution system 108, content database 110, and converter system 112may include a respective network interface to enable networkcommunications.

In some implementations, a client device 106 submits a request forcontent over a network. The user 104 of the client device 106 may bebrowsing for content, such as HTML pages, electronic documents, imagefiles, video files, and audio files, in a web browser on the clientdevice 106. For example, a requested web page may include particularHTML content that is requested from the content distribution system 108.Alternatively, the user 104 may be using a native application (e.g., avideo game or a news application) running on the client device 106. Forexample, content may be rendered inside a webview (i.e., a small window)inside of the application.

The content distribution system 108 may receive the request for contentand identify autoplay content to provide to the client device 106 inresponse to the request. The content distribution system 108 mayidentify the autoplay content from various content stored in the contentdatabase 110. In some content distribution environments, after thecontent distribution system 108 identifies the autoplay content toprovide to the client device 106, the content distribution system 108serves the entire autoplay content to the client device 106 for loadingand displaying on the content device, for example, in a web browser ormedia player executing at the client device 106.

In the example environment 100 shown in FIG. 1, the content distributionsystem 108 makes a determination whether to serve the identifiedautoplay content or click-to-play content that was generated from theidentified autoplay content. This generated click-to-play content issometimes referred to herein as converted content in contrast to theoriginal content provided by a content provider. As referred to herein,the phrase “animated content” refers to the audiovisual content that isplayed when either of the autoplay or a corresponding click-to-playcontent is played at the user device.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an example process 200 for generatingclick-to-play content. Each of the steps in the process 200 may beperformed by a combination of the content database 110 or the convertersystem 112.

At 202, the content database 110 receives content, including autoplaycontent, from one or more content providers 114. The content may be inthe form of a compressed file containing various assets (e.g., HTMLcontent, Javascript®, image files, video files, etc.). The contentdatabase 110 then decompresses content. The content database 110 isgenerally responsible for storing indexed content that has been madeavailable for distribution. An autoplay content item may be, forexample, a video clip that begins playback when the video clip haspartially or fully loaded in a browser or media player. The autoplaycontent may include an actual digitized video itself and pertinentmetadata about the digitized video. The content database 110 may includean index of all content, including a title, a short textual description,and a creator ID for a given content item.

In some implementations, the environment includes a content managementsystem that permits content providers 114 to define selection rules forserving their content. The selection rules may take into accountcharacteristics of a particular video viewer or a particular requestingdevice to provide relevant content to the viewer or device. Exampleselection rules include keywords that contribute (or control)distribution of content when words or phrases matching the keywords arepresent in either search queries, videos, or video content metadata.Content items that are associated with keywords matching a phraseincluded in a content request can be selected for display in contentslots associated with video content. For example, content may bepresented in a banner format near a video playing on a user's device orover a portion of the video playing on the user's device.

At 204, the converter system 112 accesses autoplay content in thecontent database and identifies a still image (e.g., a single frame) inthe autoplay content. For example, the still image may be a screenshotfrom a video clip. The still image, or screenshot, is used as a previewof the content item in a generated click-to-play content item. In thisway, a user can view the still image to get an idea of what the fullanimation (e.g., video clip) associated with the click-to-play contentitem is. Various implementations may utilize different processes forselecting the still image. For example, some processes use the firstframe of an animation (e.g., video clip) as the still image. However, insome situations, frames other than the first frame of the animation(e.g., video clip) may provide more useful and relevant informationabout the animation (e.g., video clip).

There are several approaches for generating the still image. In oneimplementation, the converter system 112 generates a still image afterrunning the autoplay content for a short period of time. In an alternateimplementation, the converter system 112 generates a still image of thevery first rendered frame of the animated content. This creates theeffect of continuity once the content is played back because the user isfirst presented with the very first rendered frame as a still image andsubsequently presented with playback of the animated content with moreseamless transition from still image to animated content. In yet anotherimplementation, the converter system 112 generates a screenshot of theanimated content after the animated content has played for 30 seconds(or some other specified amount of time). The still image may beextracted without playback of the animated content. For example, theconverter system 112 may select a particular time or location for thestill image (e.g., first frame, middle frame, last frame). As will bedescribed further below, in some implementations, the converter system112 extracts more than a still image. In those cases, the convertersystem 112 may extract all static content (or a snippet of multiplesuccessive frames) from the autoplay content.

At 206, the converter system 112 extracts the still image from theautoplay content. The converter system 112 may use various techniques toextract a still image. For example, the converter system 112 may useoptical character recognition (OCR) to find the most information denseframe to be used as a still image. In some implementations, theconverter system 112 analyzes the compressibility of edges of frames forextracting a still image. In some implementations, the extracted contentis not necessarily a still image but can other forms of data. Forexample, extracted content may be in the form of a portable networkgraphics (PNG) file, a JPEG file, or HTML content.

In one example, the content database 110 may transmit to the convertersystem 112 autoplay content that it received from a content provider114. The converter system 112 may comprise a server running a headlessbrowser (i.e., a version of the browser that is running on a server).The headless browser then loads the autoplay content (including videocontent and any HTML or Javascript®) and plays back the content for aperiod of time (e.g., 30 seconds) and then generates a still image fromthe content (e.g., at 30 seconds). The still image may be a PNG or JPEGfile that represents a status of the content (e.g., at 30 seconds). Insome alternate implementations, rather than extracting a static image(e.g., still image) from the autoplay content, the converter system 112generates a static HTML from the autoplay content. The static HTML linksto the same resources as the autoplay content (and additional HTML orJavascript® that causes animation), but rather than having to runcomplicated code (e.g., Javascript®), only static code is included inthe generated content. For example, if the original content includedboth an image and overlaid interactive text (e.g., hyperlinks), thegenerated static HTML content would include both the image and also theoverlaid interactive text. In contrast, where only a still image isextracted from a video, the overlaid interactive text (e.g., hyperlinks)would be lost. This approach may be especially beneficial where a staticimage is of low quality and/or low resolution. For example, a lowquality screen shot having text relating to a content provider's webpage may be difficult to read, so it may be more beneficial to providestatic HTML content for a better user experience. Additionally, thisapproach may be beneficial where a user views the static HTML contentand wishes to view the associated animation. In these scenarios, after auser expressed a desire to view the animating content (e.g., by clickingon a play button), only the non-static content would need to be providedto the user's computing device at that time in order for the user toview the animating content because all of the static content was alreadyprovided by the content server.

At 208, the converter system 112 overlays the extracted still image withone or more user interface elements. The one or more user interfaceelements may include, for example, a play button or a button foraccessing a landing page associated with the autoplay content (e.g., anadvertiser or video creator website). For example, if the autoplaycontent is a video, the still image may be overlaid with a play buttonto cause the video to begin playback and a button for navigating to thelanding page associated with the video. In browser-based contentconverters, a user would be required to click on a content two times—afirst time to start playback and a second time to visit the landingpage—in order to navigate to the landing page. The multiple userinterface elements, including a button for navigating to the landingpage—allow a user to visit the landing page with a single click. In theexample involving video, this helps to improve conversion statisticsbecause a user need only click on the content a single time. In earlierapproaches requiring two clicks, a user may click on the video a singletime, but he or she may become distracted before clicking on the video asecond time and never visit a landing page for the video. From theperspective of a content provider, this presents a negative experiencebecause it takes more effort by the user to visit the content provider'swebsite.

In some implementations, overlaying the extracted still image mayinclude using a predefined template. For example, the converter system112 may store a plurality of templates that each define a layout of userinterface elements and/or relative positions of user interface elements.In some example templates, a play button may be included in the middleof the overlay, while in other example templates, a play button may beincluded at a periphery of the overlay so as to be less intrusive. Insome implementations, a template may define at least one of a level ofgrayscale or level of opacity. For example, when the extracted stillimage is overlaid with one or more user interface elements, the stillimage itself may change in appearance. In some implementations, thestill image is displayed in black and white (e.g., grayscale) while userinterface elements are shown in color. In alternate implementations, thestill image is shown in color while the user interface elements areoverlaid on the still image causing the still image to appear darker dueto a higher level of opacity of a template overlay. In someimplementations, multiple templates are used to generate multipleversion of generated content. In this way, the content distributionsystem 108 can select from multiple versions of converted content toserve to a remote client device 106. Code for an example HTML templateis shown below:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head>  // Load minimal ad related scripts.</head> <body>  <div id=“root_template_div”style=“position:absolute;overflow:hidden;”> <iframe id=“main-content”src=“about:blank” width=“300” height=“250”></iframe> <img id=‘preview’src=‘preview-3.jpg’ style=‘position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px’></img><div id-‘link’style-‘position:absolute;left:4px;bottom:4px;color:white;cursor:pointer;’> <a onclick=‘goToLanding( )’ style=‘font-family: sans-serif;’>Visitadvertisers website <img src-‘callout.svg’ style=‘width:12px’></img></a></div>  </div>  <script> var divElement =document.getElementById(‘preview’); divElement.onclick = function( ) { // load main content into “main-content” div. document.getElementById(‘preview’).style.display = ‘none’; }; vargoToLanding = function( ) {  // Trigger ad click event. }  </script></body> </html>

In some implementations, various versions of converted content aregenerated by the converter system 112, and the content distributionsystem 108 can select an appropriate version of the converted contentbased on the content request and/or device characteristics of therequesting device (e.g., the type of device, the resolution of thedevice, the connection speed, etc.).

This step 208 introduces new ways for a user to interact with thecontent. In contrast to browser-based content blockers, a user may beable to cause playback of blocked content. However, step 208 allowsvarious other user interface elements to be overlaid on the still image,such as a button that allows a user to navigate to a content provider'swebsite without having to first playback the content, or a button thatallows the user to view other content, some of which may be related insubject matter to the original content.

At 210, the converter system 112 stores the overlaid still image as partof the click-to-play content. In some implementations, the convertersystem 112 stores the click-to-play content in association with theautoplay content from which the click-to-play content is generated. Insome implementations, the converter system 112 transmits theclick-to-play content to the content database 110 where the convertedcontent is stored with the original content.

In some implementations, one or more of steps 202-210 may be performedby a different combination of the content database 110, the convertersystem 112, and the content distribution system 108. For example, insome implementations, the content database 110 first receives theautoplay content from a content provider 114. Then, the content database110 sends the autoplay content to the converter system 112 forconverting the autoplay content to click-to-play content. The convertersystem 112 receives the autoplay content, identifies a relevant stillimage in the autoplay content at 204, extracts the still image from theautoplay content 206, and overlays the still image with one or more userinterface elements 208. At 210, the content database stores the storesthe overlaid still image as click-to-play content. The click-to-playcontent may be stored in association with the autoplay content fromwhich the click-to-play content was generated.

In some implementations, the converter system 112 performs a batchconversion of multiple autoplay content items to generate multipleclick-to-play content items at one time. In some implementations, theconverter system 112 extracts static HTML content (e.g., a still image)from an autoplay content item but does not select a template and/or oneor more user interface elements. Rather, the content distribution system108 requests a particular template and/or one or more user interfaceelements at run time if the content distribution system 108 elects toprovide the static HTML content rather than an autoplay content item toa requesting remote client device. At run time, the content distributionsystem 108 then obtains the converted content (e.g., the static HTMLcontent) from the content database 110 and selects a particular templateand/or one or more user interface elements for rendering on the remoteclient device. In these implementations, one or more of these tasks maybe performed by a rendering server.

As discussed above, in some implementations, the converter system 112generates click-to-play content from the autoplay content. In someimplementations, the converter system 112 specifically identifiesautoplay content items stored in the content database 110 as candidatesto be converted to click-to-play content items. That is, contentproviders 114 can provide many types of content to the content database110. In some cases, the content can cause bad user experiences and/orthe content can load too slowly. In many cases, the content providers donot intend to cause a negative experience, so the systems and methodsdescribed herein can improve the content presentation and userexperience by reducing the load latency for content provided by contentproviders. Content that causes the negative user experiences includes atleast some autoplay content. However, in some situations, it may be thatnot all HTML autoplay content causes the negative user experiences.Therefore, in some implementations, the converter system 112 determineswhich autoplay content may cause a negative user experience andgenerates click-to-play content from only the autoplay content that isdetermined to contribute to a negative user experience (e.g., due tolong load times).

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example process for converting HTML contentto click-to-play content. Note that in environments where the contentdatabase 110 performs the conversion, each of the processes in FIG. 3would be performed by the content database 110. In the process, HTMLcontent is analyzed 304 to determine whether the content should beconverted to click-to-play content 306. If the converter system 112determines that a particular HTML content is non-optimizable then noadditional content is generated. If the converter system 112 determinesthat a particular HTML content 302 is optimizable, however, theconverter system 112 converts the HTML content 302 to click-to-playcontent 306. The content is then stored at 308. Optimizable content mayrefer to content than can be converted or content that would benefitfrom conversion, while non-optimizable content may refer to content thatcannot be converted or content that does not benefit from conversion.

Non-optimizable content may include, for example, pure static content ormostly static content (e.g., HTML content that does not comprise anyanimating content). Optimizable content may include, for example, HTMLautoplay content or HTML content that uses JS libraries to perform heavygraphic animations. In some implementations, HTML autoplay content isnot necessarily considered optimizable. Rather, the converter system 112determines a size of the HTML autoplay content, and if the size isgreater than a threshold size, then the HTML autoplay content isconsidered optimizable and converted to click-to-play content 306. Insome implementations, analyzing 304 content to determine whether contentis optimizable or non-optimizable includes determining whether thecontent 302 includes any animations or excessive animations (e.g., morethan a threshold animation duration). In some implementations, analyzing304 content to determine whether content 302 is optimizable ornon-optimizable includes determining whether the content 302 will causegreater than a threshold amount of time to load on a client device(e.g., based on network speed, client device processing capabilities, orclient device storage capabilities). That is, if the converter system112 determines that the content will load too slowly on the clientdevice (e.g., will take longer than a specified amount of time to load),the content is deemed optimizable and converted to static content.

When either the content database 110 or the converter system 112analyzes HTML content 302 and determines that the content should beconverted to click-to-play content, the respective server then generatesclick-to-play content from the HTML content. For purposes of discussion,the processes for generating the click-to-play content will be describedbelow with respect to the converter system 112, though it should benoted that in some implementations, the content distribution system 108content database 110 can also perform these processes. To generateclick-to-play content, the converter system 112 identifies a screenshot,or still image, from the autoplay content item, to be used as a stillimage for the click-to-play content item. Several approaches may be usedto generate the still image. In some implementations, the convertersystem 112 generates a still image after running the autoplay contentfor a short period of time. In some implementations, the convertersystem 112 generates a still image at the very first rendered frame tocreate the effect of continuity once the content is played back, oranimated. This approach, however, may result in a still image thatprovides less relevant information relating to the autoplay contentitem. For example, if the autoplay content item begins with a blackscreen, then the extracted still image would be a black screen thatultimately would not show any useful information about the autoplaycontent item. In some implementations, the converter system 112generates a still image after playing the autoplay content item for aset period of time (e.g., 30 seconds) after which point the autoplaycontent item is no longer animating. This approach has the advantage ofproviding a frame that includes more relevant information about theautoplay content item.

After the converter system 112 extracts a still image, it provides oneor more user interface elements for playback of the autoplay content.Typically, the user interface elements are overlaid on the still imageso that the user is shown a relevant frame from the click-to-playcontent and provided a mechanism by which the user can cause theanimation associated with the click-to-play content animate. Thisprovides information about the animated content to the user while notusing bandwidth to download the animated content or distracting a userwho does not wish to view the animated content. However, if a user doeswish to view the animated content, the user interface elements providethe user a clear way of viewing the animated content.

In some implementations, the converter system 112 selects a particularautoplay content item to convert because that content item causes poorperformance by a computing device. For example, a converter system 112select an autoplay content that typically begins to animate after 30seconds on a particular computing device. In this example, while thesavings in the amount of data that is downloaded to the computing devicemay be negligible, the benefits to the browsing experience and thebattery life of the particular computing device may be substantial. Whenthe content item is converted from an autoplay content item to aclick-to-play content item, there is some cost to the browser todownload the click-to-play content—similar to downloading an image—butthe content item does not disrupt the rendering of other content on thecomputing device unless or until a user clicks to view the animationassociated with the click-to-play content.

Example code for converting autoplay content to click-to-play content ispresented below:

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head>  // Load minimal ad related scripts. @keyframes background-fade-in { from {opacity: 0;} to {opacity: 1;}  } @keyframes title-slide-in { from {top: −100px;} to {top: 200px;}  }</head> <body>  <div id=“root_template_div”style=“position:absolute;overflow:hidden;”> <iframe id=“main-content”src=“about:blank” width=“300” height=“250”></iframe> <div id=‘preview’style=‘position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;width:300px;height:250px’> <img src=“background.jpg” style=‘animation-name:background-fade-in;animation-duration:5s’></img>  <div id-‘title’style=‘animation-name:title-slide-in;animation- duration:5s’></div> <div id=‘more_info’></div> </div> <div id=‘link’style=‘position:absolute;left:4px;bottom:4px;color:white;cursor:pointer;’> <a onclick=‘goToLanding( )’ style=‘font-family: sans-serif;’>Visitadvertisers website <img src=‘callout.svg’ style=‘width:12px’></img></a></div>  </div>  <script> var divElement =document.getElementById(‘preview’); divElement.onclick = function( ) { // load main content into “main-content” div. document.getElementById(‘preview’).style.display = ‘none’; }; vargoToLanding = function( ) {  // Trigger ad click event. }  </script></body> </html>

In some implementations, the converter system 112 selects particularcontent to convert because the particular content causes latency issues.In some instances, the latency issues are caused by a combination of theparticular content item and particular characteristics of a computingdevice or particular operating system. Converting HTML autoplay contentto click-to-play content provides better interactions in theseinstances, as shown below in FIG. 4.

One of the advantages of the techniques discussed herein is that contentwith high loading latency can be replaced by click-to-play content thatloads quickly on a browser, for example, in the time it would take toload an image. FIG. 4 illustrates how these techniques can reduce lagtime and/or preempt the downloading of unwanted content. Timeline 410shows a scenario where original HTML autoplay content includinganimation is presented to a user. In these scenarios, where HTMLautoplay content is provided to a user, the animating content beginsloading automatically. As shown in 410, original content begins loadingat time=0 s, but animation 440 is not begin playback until time=0.8 s.Thus, there is significant lag following the start of content loadingand content playback. Additionally, in this scenario, if the user didnot wish to video the playback content at all and immediately stoppedplayback of the HTML autoplay content, unnecessary resources wereconsumed. That is, each HTML autoplay content that a uses stops playbackof consumes CPU cycles at the content distribution system, consumesnetwork bandwidth, and contributes to battery drain on the user's devicebecause the user's device downloads unwanted content and the userwatches portions of animated content in which the user is notinterested.

Timeline 420 shows a scenario where original HTML autoplay contentincluding animation has been converted to click-to-play content 442, andthe click-to-play content 442 is presented to a user. In this scenario,the user does not interact with the click-to-play content 442 (e.g., byclicking on the content to cause it to animate) after the click-to-playcontent 442 has loaded. The click-to-play content 442 begins loading attime=0 s, and is presented to the user at time=0.2 s. Thus, by comparingtimeline 410 to timeline 420, the HTML content 440 takes 0.6 s longer toload than the click-to-play content 442, resulting in a significant lag.In timeline 420, because the user does not click on the click-to-playcontent, no further content loads.

Timeline 430 shows a scenario where original HTML autoplay contentincluding animation has been converted to click-to-play content 442, theclick-to-play content 442 is presented to a user, and the user clicks onthe click-to-play content 442 in order to view the HTML content 440. Aswith timeline 420, in timeline 430, the click-to-play content 442 beginsloading at time=0 s, and is presented to the user at time=0.2 s. Thesystem then idles the click event at time=0.7 s when the user clicks onthe play button of the click-to-play content 442. The HTML content 440then begins loading at time=0.7 s and begins playback at time=1.4 s.

There are several advantages to the example timelines 410, 420, 430shown in FIG. 4. First, the click-to-play content loads faster than theanimating content. Next, by not automatically loading the animatingcontent that can cause latency issues, the browser has freed upresources to perform other operations or download other content.Additionally, click-to-play content consumes no user resources afterloading (as shown in timeline 420), unless the user further engages thecontent, such as, for example, by clicking on the content (as shown intimeline 430).

In some implementations, while the click-to-play content 442 is beingdisplayed, the HTML content 440 may be downloading on the client device.This has the advantage that the click-to-play content 442 acts as apreview for the user while the HTML content 440 is being loaded. Then,when the user clicks a user interface element to play the HTML content,the HTML content animation 440 displays in a more seamless mannerbecause the content 440 has already been downloaded. In otherimplementations, the HTML content 440 is not downloaded until the userindicates that he or she wishes to view the animation by, for example,clicking on a user interface element (e.g., a play button) associatedwith the click-to-play content. This has the advantage that non-playedcontent will load quickly and not use any unnecessary resources.However, the experience of clicking on a user interface element mayresult in slower playback of the HTML content 440 because the browserdoes not cause the HTML content 440 to be downloaded without user inputand must download the HTML content 440 and other resources to startplayback.

In some implementations, the converter system 112 can generate the stillimage or preview using actual resources and HTML code related to thecontent. This provides the advantage of preloading some of the resourcesneeded for playback of the actual content animation.

FIGS. 5A-C show various examples of screenshots with user interfaceelements. In a basic approach, shown in FIG. 5A, animating content hasbeen converted to click-to-play content that displays a screenshot 510and a play button 512 that overlays the screenshot 510. If a user wishesto view the animating content associated with the click-to-play content,the user selects the play button 512, which causes the browser torequest the HTML autoplay content associated with the click-to-playcontent and that includes the animating content. The browser receivesthe HTML autoplay content and the animating content begins to animate.In some implementations, if the user clicks on the content a secondtime, a target website associated with the content will load (e.g., theuser will be redirected to the target website).

Another approach is shown in FIG. 5B, where click-to-play content isdisplayed as a screenshot 520 and an overlaid play button 522 togetherwith a button for visiting the content provider's website (“Visitcontent provider's website”) 524. In this example, if a user clicks theplay button 522, the content will begin to animate in a manner similarto FIG. 5A. That is, if the user selects the play button 522, thebrowser requests, from a content distribution system, the HTML autoplaycontent associated with the click-to-play content and that includes theanimating content. The browser then receives the HTML autoplay contentand the animating content begins to animate. However, if the user doesnot wish to watch the animation but wants to visit the contentprovider's website, the user need only click on the content a singletime—e.g., by clicking the “Visit content provider's website” button524—to be redirected to the target website. That is, a user is notrequired to first click to play before clicking to visit the targetwebsite.

FIG. 5C shows an alternate approach having a screenshot 530 in which theplay button 532 and button for visiting the content provider's website534 are less intrusive. In particular, the play button 532 is placed atthe corner of the screenshot 530 rather than in the middle of thescreenshot.

FIG. 6 is flow chart of an example process 600 for serving click-to-playcontent and autoplay content. The steps in the example process 600 mayoccur after process 200 in FIG. 2 where click-to-play content has beengenerated from autoplay content. At 602, content distribution system 108receives, from a remote client device, a request for content. Therequested content may include HTML content, which may include HTMLautoplay content. At 604, in response to the request for content, thecontent distribution system 108 identifies an HTML content item from aplurality of HTML content items stored on the content database 110. TheHTML content is original content in that it is not convertedclick-to-play content but rather, for example, autoplay content that acontent provider 114 generated and sent to the content database 110.

At 604, the content distribution system 108 receives, from the contentdatabase 110, a click-to-play content item associated with the HTMLcontent item. The click-to-play content item is generated from the HTMLcontent item, for example, in the process 200 of FIG. 2.

At 606, the content distribution system 108 provides, to the remoteclient device, the click-to-play content item associated with the HTMLcontent item. The provided click-to-play content item may resemble, forexample, any of the exemplary click-to-play content items shown in FIGS.5A-C. As shown in timeline 430 of FIG. 4, the click-to-play content item442 may begin loading at time=0 s and be displayed at time=0.2 s. Attime=0.2 s, the remote client device begins to idle, pending furtheruser input. In some implementations, the click-to-play content isprovided to a web browser or a native application of the remote clientdevice.

At 608, the content distribution system 108 receives a user request toview animation related to the click-to-play content. Referring again totimeline 430 of FIG. 4, at time=0.7 s, the content distribution system108 recognizes a click event. The content distribution system 108 thenretrieves the HTML content associated with the click-to-play contentfrom the content database 110.

At 610, the content distribution system 108 provides the HTML autoplaycontent associated with the click-to-play content to the client device.Referring again to timeline 430 of FIG. 4, at time=0.7 s, the contentdistribution system 108 recognizes a click event and begins transmittingthe HTML content 440. At time=1.4 s, the remote client device hasfinished loading the HTML content 440, and the HTML content 440 beginsplayback of the animation.

In some implementations, after the content distribution system 108identifies an HTML content item from a plurality of HTML content itemsstored on the content database 110, the content distribution system 108makes a determination as to whether to provide to the remote clientdevice the HTML content item or a click-to-play content associated withthe HTML content. This determination may include determining a file sizeof the HTML content and a file size of the click-to-play content. Then,based on a comparison of the file size of the HTML content and theclick-to-play content with a threshold file size, the contentdistribution system 108 decides which content to serve. For example,both the HTML content and the click-to-play content are smaller than thethreshold file size, the content distribution system 108 may select theHTML content to serve. However, if the HTML content is larger than thethreshold file size and the click-to-play content is smaller than thethreshold file size, then the content distribution system 108 may selectthe click-to-play content to serve to the remote client device. In someimplementations, the content distribution system 108 makes adetermination regarding an amount of lag associated with loading theHTML content when selecting whether to serve the HTML content or theclick-to-play content. This determination regarding lag may be based onthe HTML content itself, the connection speed of the remote clientdevice, and/or device features of the remote client device.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a computing device 700 and a mobile computingdevice that may be used to implement the computer-implemented methodsand other techniques described herein. The computing device 700 isintended to represent various forms of digital computers, such aslaptops, desktops, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers,blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers. The mobilecomputing device is intended to represent various forms of mobiledevices, such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones,smart-phones, and other similar computing devices. The components shownhere, their connections and relationships, and their functions, aremeant to be exemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementationsof the inventions described and/or claimed in this document.

The computing device 700 includes a processor 702, a memory 704, astorage device 706, a high-speed interface 708 connecting to the memory704 and multiple high-speed expansion ports 710, and a low-speedinterface 712 connecting to a low-speed expansion port 714 and thestorage device 706. Each of the processor 702, the memory 704, thestorage device 706, the high-speed interface 708, the high-speedexpansion ports 710, and the low-speed interface 712, are interconnectedusing various busses, and may be mounted on a common motherboard or inother manners as appropriate. The processor 702 can process instructionsfor execution within the computing device 700, including instructionsstored in the memory 704 or on the storage device 706 to displaygraphical information for a GUI on an external input/output device, suchas a display 716 coupled to the high-speed interface 708. In otherimplementations, multiple processors and/or multiple buses may be used,as appropriate, along with multiple memories and types of memory. Also,multiple computing devices may be connected, with each device providingportions of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server bank, a group ofblade servers, or a multi-processor system).

The memory 704 stores information within the computing device 700. Insome implementations, the memory 704 is a volatile memory unit or units.In some implementations, the memory 704 is a non-volatile memory unit orunits. The memory 704 may also be another form of computer-readablemedium, such as a magnetic or optical disk.

The storage device 706 is capable of providing mass storage for thecomputing device 700. In some implementations, the storage device 706may be or contain a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy diskdevice, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device, aflash memory or other similar solid state memory device, or an array ofdevices, including devices in a storage area network or otherconfigurations. The computer program product may also containinstructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such asthose described above. The computer program product can also be tangiblyembodied in a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory704, the storage device 706, or memory on the processor 702.

The high-speed interface 708 manages bandwidth-intensive operations forthe computing device 700, while the low-speed interface 712 manageslower bandwidth-intensive operations. Such allocation of functions isexemplary only. In some implementations, the high-speed interface 708 iscoupled to the memory 704, the display 716 (e.g., through a graphicsprocessor or accelerator), and to the high-speed expansion ports 710,which may accept various expansion cards (not shown). In theimplementation, the low-speed interface 712 is coupled to the storagedevice 706 and the low-speed expansion port 714. The low-speed expansionport 714, which may include various communication ports (e.g., USB,Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet) may be coupled to one or moreinput/output devices, such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner,or a networking device such as a switch or router, e.g., through anetwork adapter.

The computing device 700 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as astandard server 720, or multiple times in a group of such servers. Inaddition, it may be implemented in a personal computer such as a laptopcomputer 722. It may also be implemented as part of a rack server system724. Alternatively, components from the computing device 700 may becombined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), such as amobile computing device 750. Each of such devices may contain one ormore of the computing device 700 and the mobile computing device 750,and an entire system may be made up of multiple computing devicescommunicating with each other.

The mobile computing device 750 includes a processor 752, a memory 764,an input/output device such as a display 754, a communication interface766, and a transceiver 768, among other components. The mobile computingdevice 750 may also be provided with a storage device, such as amicro-drive or other device, to provide additional storage. Each of theprocessor 752, the memory 764, the display 754, the communicationinterface 766, and the transceiver 768, are interconnected using variousbuses, and several of the components may be mounted on a commonmotherboard or in other manners as appropriate.

The processor 752 can execute instructions within the mobile computingdevice 750, including instructions stored in the memory 764. Theprocessor 752 may be implemented as a chipset of chips that includeseparate and multiple analog and digital processors. The processor 752may provide, for example, for coordination of the other components ofthe mobile computing device 750, such as control of user interfaces,applications run by the mobile computing device 750, and wirelesscommunication by the mobile computing device 750.

The processor 752 may communicate with a user through a controlinterface 758 and a display interface 756 coupled to the display 754.The display 754 may be, for example, a TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor LiquidCrystal Display) display or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)display, or other appropriate display technology. The display interface756 may comprise appropriate circuitry for driving the display 754 topresent graphical and other information to a user. The control interface758 may receive commands from a user and convert them for submission tothe processor 752. In addition, an external interface 762 may providecommunication with the processor 752, so as to enable near areacommunication of the mobile computing device 750 with other devices. Theexternal interface 762 may provide, for example, for wired communicationin some implementations, or for wireless communication in otherimplementations, and multiple interfaces may also be used.

The memory 764 stores information within the mobile computing device750. The memory 764 can be implemented as one or more of acomputer-readable medium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or anon-volatile memory unit or units. An expansion memory 774 may also beprovided and connected to the mobile computing device 750 through anexpansion interface 772, which may include, for example, a SIMM (SingleIn Line Memory Module) card interface. The expansion memory 774 mayprovide extra storage space for the mobile computing device 750, or mayalso store applications or other information for the mobile computingdevice 750. Specifically, the expansion memory 774 may includeinstructions to carry out or supplement the processes described above,and may include secure information also. Thus, for example, theexpansion memory 774 may be provide as a security module for the mobilecomputing device 750, and may be programmed with instructions thatpermit secure use of the mobile computing device 750. In addition,secure applications may be provided via the SIMM cards, along withadditional information, such as placing identifying information on theSIMM card in a non-hackable manner.

The memory may include, for example, flash memory and/or NVRAM memory(non-volatile random access memory), as discussed below. The computerprogram product contains instructions that, when executed, perform oneor more methods, such as those described above. The computer programproduct can be a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as thememory 764, the expansion memory 774, or memory on the processor 752. Insome implementations, the computer program product can be received in apropagated signal, for example, over the transceiver 768 or the externalinterface 762.

The mobile computing device 750 may communicate wirelessly through thecommunication interface 766, which may include digital signal processingcircuitry where necessary. The communication interface 766 may providefor communications under various modes or protocols, such as GSM voicecalls (Global System for Mobile communications), SMS (Short MessageService), EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), or MMS messaging (MultimediaMessaging Service), CDMA (code division multiple access), TDMA (timedivision multiple access), PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), WCDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA2000, or GPRS (GeneralPacket Radio Service), among others. Such communication may occur, forexample, through the transceiver 768 using a radio-frequency. Inaddition, short-range communication may occur, such as using aBluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver (not shown). In addition, aGPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module 770 may provideadditional navigation- and location-related wireless data to the mobilecomputing device 750, which may be used as appropriate by applicationsrunning on the mobile computing device 750.

The mobile computing device 750 may also communicate audibly using anaudio codec 760, which may receive spoken information from a user andconvert it to usable digital information. The audio codec 760 maylikewise generate audible sound for a user, such as through a speaker,e.g., in a handset of the mobile computing device 750. Such sound mayinclude sound from voice telephone calls, may include recorded sound(e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) and may also include soundgenerated by applications operating on the mobile computing device 750.

The mobile computing device 750 may be implemented in a number ofdifferent forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may beimplemented as a cellular telephone 770. It may also be implemented aspart of a smart-phone 772, personal digital assistant, or other similarmobile device.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here canbe realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations can include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichmay be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) include machine instructions for a programmableprocessor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/orobject-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machinelanguage. As used herein, the terms machine-readable medium andcomputer-readable medium refer to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructionsand/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readablemedium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal.The term machine-readable signal refers to any signal used to providemachine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniquesdescribed here can be implemented on a computer having a display device(e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor)for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provideinput to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide forinteraction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to theuser can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback,auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can bereceived in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in acomputing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a dataserver), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an applicationserver), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computerhaving a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a usercan interact with an implementation of the systems and techniquesdescribed here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, orfront end components. The components of the system can be interconnectedby any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., acommunication network). Examples of communication networks include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

In situations in which the systems, methods, devices, and othertechniques here collect personal information (e.g., context data) aboutusers, or may make use of personal information, the users may beprovided with an opportunity to control whether programs or featurescollect user information (e.g., information about a user's socialnetwork, social actions or activities, profession, a user's preferences,or a user's current location), or to control whether and/or how toreceive content from the content distribution system that may be morerelevant to the user. In addition, certain data may be treated in one ormore ways before it is stored or used, so that personally identifiableinformation is removed. For example, a user's identity may be treated sothat no personally identifiable information can be determined for theuser, or a user's geographic location may be generalized where locationinformation is obtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level),so that a particular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, theuser may have control over how information is collected about the userand used by a content distribution system.

Although various implementations have been described in detail above,other modifications are possible. In addition, the logic flows depictedin the figures do not require the particular order shown, or sequentialorder, to achieve desirable results. In addition, other steps may beprovided, or steps may be eliminated, from the described flows, andother components may be added to, or removed from, the describedsystems. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, bya content database and from a content provider, an original content itemcomprising animated content that automatically plays when provided to aclient device; generating, by one or more processors, a plurality ofconverted content items from a plurality of original content items thatincludes the original content item comprising animated content, thegenerating comprising: for a particular original content item,identifying, from the particular original content item, a relevantstatic image; and creating a particular converted content item that onlyplays when a particular user interface element is interacted with, thecreating including overlaying the static representation image with theparticular user interface element that initiates playback of theparticular converted content item in response to interaction with theparticular user interface element; identifying multiple differentopportunities to distribute the original content item to differentclient devices; providing the particular content item to a first portionof the different client devices; and providing the original content itemto a second portion of the different client devices.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving,by the content database and from the different client devices, one ormore user requests to view content items comprising animated contentrelated to the particular converted content item that was generated bythe one or more processors; and in response to receiving the userrequest to view animated content, providing, by the converter system andto the client device, the original content item.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the plurality oforiginal content items comprise autoplay HTML content and the pluralityof converted content items comprise click-to-play content.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising: analyzing,by the converter system, the plurality of original content items in thecontent database; and identifying, by the converter system, originalcontent items that are eligible for conversion.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein identifying originalcontent items that are eligible for conversion comprises identifyingoriginal content items that are larger than a threshold file size. 7.The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the particularconverted content item has a smaller file size than the particularoriginal content item.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2,wherein the content database stores each of the plurality of convertedcontent items in association with a corresponding animated originalcontent item.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, furthercomprising determining whether to provide to the remote client devicethe particular animated original content item or the particularconverted content item, wherein the determining comprises: determining afile size of the particular original content item and a file size of theparticular converted content item; and based on a comparison of the filesize of the particular animated original content item and the file sizeof the particular converted content item with a threshold file size,selecting the particular converted content item.
 10. A systemcomprising: a content database, in communication with one or morecontent providers, that receives, from the one or more contentproviders, an original content item comprising animated content thatautomatically plays when provided to a client device; and one or moreprocessors that: generate a plurality of converted content items from aplurality of original content items that includes the original contentitem comprising animated content, the generating comprising: for aparticular original content item, identify, from the particular originalcontent item, a relevant static image; and create a particular convertedcontent item that only plays when a particular user interface element isinteracted with, the creating including overlaying the staticrepresentation image with the particular user interface element thatinitiates playback of the particular converted content item in responseto interaction with the particular user interface element; identifymultiple different opportunities to distribute the original content itemto different client devices; provide the particular content item to afirst portion of the different client devices; and provide the originalcontent item to a second portion of the different client devices. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the content database receives, from thedifferent client devices, one or more user requests to view contentitems comprising animated content related to the particular convertedcontent item that was generated by the one or more processors; and inresponse to receiving the user request to view animated content, theconverter system provides to the client device, the original contentitem.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of originalcontent items comprise autoplay HTML content and the plurality ofconverted content items comprise click-to-play content.
 13. The systemof claim 10, wherein the converter system analyzes the plurality oforiginal content items in the content database and identifies originalcontent items that are eligible for conversion.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein identifying original content items that are eligible forconversion comprises identifying original content items that are largerthan a threshold file size.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein theparticular converted content item has a smaller file size than theparticular original content item.
 16. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, cause performance of operationscomprising: receiving, by a content database and from a contentprovider, an original content item comprising animated content thatautomatically plays when provided to a client device; generating, by oneor more processors, a plurality of converted content items from aplurality of original content items that includes the original contentitem comprising animated content, the generating comprising: for aparticular original content item, identifying, from the particularoriginal content item, a relevant static image; and creating aparticular converted content item that only plays when a particular userinterface element is interacted with, the creating including overlayingthe static representation image with the particular user interfaceelement that initiates playback of the particular converted content itemin response to interaction with the particular user interface element;identifying multiple different opportunities to distribute the originalcontent item to different client devices; providing the particularcontent item to a first portion of the different client devices; andproviding the original content item to a second portion of the differentclient devices.
 17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 16, the operations further comprising: receiving, by thecontent database and from the different client devices, one or more userrequests to view content items comprising animated content related tothe particular converted content item that was generated by the one ormore processors; and in response to receiving the user request to viewanimated content, providing, by the converter system and to the clientdevice, the original content item.
 18. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the plurality of originalcontent items comprise autoplay HTML content and the plurality ofconverted content items comprise click-to-play content.
 19. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, furthercomprising: analyzing, by the converter system, the plurality oforiginal content items in the content database; and identifying, by theconverter system, original content items that are eligible forconversion.
 20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediaof claim 19, wherein identifying original content items that areeligible for conversion comprises identifying original content itemsthat are larger than a threshold file size.
 21. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein theparticular converted content item has a smaller file size than theparticular original content item.